She’d like to go outside and work on her short game, her approach shots, her bunker play, her driving accuracy and distance.
For it is now spring, and in spring, Vernon’s Kendra Jones-Munk’s thoughts turn to getting outdoors in the beautiful Okanagan weather and playing golf.
The Grade 12 W.L. Seaton student who turns 18 in April is quite good at the game.
She is the defending Zone 2 Junior Golf Tour Girl’s Tour Champion. She has played the provincial and Canadian junior women’s championships.
Her play has been consistent and good enough that she will make the transition from junior to university golf in the fall, committing to the UBC Okanagan Heat women’s golf team for 2020-21.
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“It’s just down the road from home and I got the feeling of it being a university but not overly big,” said Jones-Munk on choosing UBCO, where she plans to study human kinetics. “All the people I’ve met there so far are amazing and very, very nice. I really feel at home there.”
Jones-Munk was able to get out a few times and play at early opening courses in Kelowna and West Kelowna, but those have now been shut down along with courses throughout the province in the wake of COVID-19.
In fact, Jones-Munk was supposed to be playing a Maple Leaf Junior Golf Tour event in Langley on her spring break but that was cancelled.
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Her spring schedule was going to include playing the Zone 2 tour and defending her title, and she still hopes to though the first few events have been postponed. Jones-Munk is entered in the Maple Leaf Tour’s two Okanagan stops at Predator Ridge July 20-21 and at the Heat’s home course, the Okanagan Golf Club in Kelowna, July 23-24.
She’s been accepted to play in the B.C. Junior Women’s championships this summer, set for Nk’Mip Canyon Desert Golf Course in Oliver, and is waiting for acceptance into the Canadian championships in Quebec and a pre-college tournament in Pulman, Wash.
Jones-Munk is hoping to play those events as she prepares for her inaugural year with the Heat.
“Being a freshman is a little more difficult because I don’t have the college experience, but I’m hoping all my work I’ve put in and improving my skills, I can make a good impression and help the team out,” she said.
Jones-Munk has already impressed Heat head coach Clay Stothers.
“She has a great attitude and loves the game of golf. I see her contributing right away,” said Stothers, describing his upcoming team as “young and still growing.”
“If she puts the hard work in, she can be part of the team’s success.”
The biggest thing Jones-Munk will have to work on, said the coach, is the transition to university play.
“There’s nothing specific about her game that needs work. From what I’ve seen, she’s consisten in all area,” said Stothers. “It’s the transitioning to playing at a higher lever that’s going to be the key.”
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